The Monday morning midfielder - TGIF edition
By Jeff Carlisle · May 23, 2008
As I departed Buck Shaw Stadium Thursday night, there was one thought dominating my mind. Was it the play of the Bull Elephant, Ryan Johnson? The sight of Kei Kamara finally scoring? The even rarer occurance of seeing Ivan Guerrero getting into the attack on a regular basis? Good candidates all, but what I couldn’t get out of my head was the fact that now that San Jose has notched their biggest win of the season, some of their most impressive performers on Thursday are going to be leaving for goodness knows how long.
Kamara? Leaving on international duty with Sierra Leone, (although he did add in the locker room afterwards that a call-up by the Sierra Leone Football Federation doesn’t mean they will come through with the all-important airfare to said match, so there is a remote chance he may not be going after all.)
Guerrero? As I mentioned in an earlier post, gone possibly until, (brace yourselves) June 14 with Honduras.
That’s probably why Yallop, resplendent in a suit on the sideline for the first time this year, looked somewhat subdued afterwards.
At least Johnson isn’t going anywhere. Talk about taking your chance, there is no way that Yallop can not play him against Real Salt Lake after that performance. And as much as his physical attributes are talked up, it’s worth noting that Johnson showed he can curl in a nice cross as well, with his 33rd minute beauty that Kamara nodded against the post the most eye-catching.
The return to form of the defense was also an encouraging sign, with the middle tandem of Garcia and Cochrane doing well for most of the game. The only downer? Another late goal conceded. That’s got to be worrying to Yallop and Co.
It’s late (1:41 AM) On to the ratings (1-10; 5=average)
Cannon, 5 - Not asked to much except pick Ching’s goal out of his net.
Denton, 6 - Kept Mullan quiet.
Cochrane, 6 - Needed to mark tighter on Ching’s goal, but otherwise, a solid night.
Garcia, 6 - Got under the Dynamo’s skin and then some.
Hernandez, 6 - Another workmanlike effort.
Guerrero, 7 - Good to see him get into the attack. Too bad he has to leave.
Corrales, 6 - Shackled De Rosario.
Grabavoy, 6 - Great keep-alive play on Kamara’s goal.
O’Brien, 5 - Relatively quiet night for the Irishman.
Johnson, 7 - Was a near-constant threat all night long.
Kamara, 7 - Took his goal well. The pressure lifts - for now.
Subs:
Salinas, 5 - Tracked back well late in the game.
Kirovski, NR - Did he even touch the ball?
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I like your ratings Jeff! Not that I’m in complete agreement with them (Kirovski wasn’t on long enough to be rated, perhaps, but I didn’t see him touch OR pressure the ball - perhaps I missed something, but I’d like to see more hustle and defense out of a veteran player subbed in with a chance to kill off the game; I also thought ROB deserved a 6 at the least - he really helped get us out of some jams early with his accurate passes and timely clearances), but I like that you’ve left us a lot of room for improvement! It was a big win, but we still have room to improve, and that’s reflected in your ratings. Nice work!